Now, I’d never wish for any Philly team to lose games on purpose. Nor would I deem it acceptable from any other franchise in any other sport for any reason at all.Though, Today I’m saying the Sixers should lose out the rest of the way. I’m not saying they should do it on purpose, they’ve been doing a good job all year losing by themselves. All I’m saying is, keep your pride in check, Sixers, and just lose, baby.

The Philadelphia 76ers have 12 games remaining in the regular season. That’s 12 games until they hit the tees, or go back to their hometowns to watch the NBA playoffs with their friends and families.

Out of the final 12 game, only a handful are “winnable” games for the Sixers.

The Sixers remaining schedule shakes out like this:

vs Orlando (Tonight) 49-21

@ Milwaukee 38-30

vs Atlanta 45-24

vs Oklahoma City 42-26

@ Charlotte 35-34

vs Toronto 34-34

vs Detroit 23-47

@ Miami 36-34

vs Milwaukee

@ Memphis 37-33

vs Miami

@ Orlando

As you can see only one team they’ll face the rest of the way has a losing record, the Detroit Pistons. The Sixers are currently only one game better than the Pistons. Their match up on April 6th could have huge NBA lottery implications.

With the Sixers most likely parting ways with Ed Stefanski, and definitely with head coach Eddie Jordan, a new GM and coach could find themselves in an enviable position. Starting off their tenure’s with a high 1st round pick could help them develop a direction for this team more easily. Having a piece to build around is half the battle. A battle that’s been lost by Ed Stefanski and Billy King before him. The Sixers roster isn’t full of bad players, in fact it’s full of some actual talent. Only, there isn’t any superstar talent, or “special” talent on this team. Andre Iguodala is a nice player, but let’s face it he’s destined to be a side-kick. Elton Brand was at one time a huge piece to a teams success, now he’s in his fledgling years, a shell of his former self.

Aside from those two, you have some developing talents. Thaddeus Young and Maressee Speights have seemed to go backwards this season. Not surprisingly though, being on a bad team rarely helps a young players game. With Jrue Holiday, he’s shown some tremendous skill, and has a huge upside. The rest of the roster is full of average role players.

The Sixers roster combined with a flawed offensive system, non-existent defense and cap space headed in the wrong direction is a recipe for 24-46 record.

All of this is why the Sixers should lose out the rest of the way. Lose all 12 and hope for the best possible draw in the lottery. If you’re a real Sixer fan you’ll understand that it’s the first step to turning this franchise around. Winning a couple of games at the end of this season can only hurt the team in the future.

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Written by Mike Santa Barbara
Sports writer covering mostly Philadelphia sports for over 10 years. Work has been featured on RealGM.com, GCobb.com and Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia (CSNPhilly.com.)

2 Comments

In response to “With Only 12 Games Remaining, Sixers Should Lose Out”

Crazy things can happen in the NBA Lottery though, even if the 76ers absolutely tank their season. Celtics after the ’06-’07 season were the second worst team in the NBA. They had 99 ping pong balls out of 100 and still somehow ended up with the 5th lottery pick. This was the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant draft. And they were definitely tanking games to end that season. It all worked out in the end because Danny Ainge traded the whole team for KG. But its probably a good idea for 76ers to just play the young guys to see what they can do.

I’m not debating whether or not it’s possible for the ping-pong balls to not fall your way. However, nothing has gone right for this team, it’s about time something looked up for them. I’m all about playing the young guys, to this point Eddie Jordan has failed to do that. Claiming he’s “trying to win games.” Holiday gets a lot of playing time, other than that maybe playing Jodie Meeks or Jason Smith more are the only other options off the bench that are considered “young.” Other than that they are filled with the Willie Green’s and Rodney Carney’s of the world. Guys that won’t be on the squad next season anyway.